Shepherding As Soulcraft
Song of Solomon 1:7 (To Her Beloved): Tell me, O you whom I love, where you feed your flock, where did you make it rest at noon. For why should I be as one who veils herself by the flocks of your companions?
Song of Solomon 1:8 (The Beloved): If you do not know, O fairest among women, follow in the footsteps of the flock, and feed your little goats beside the shepherds' tents.
"Labor anywhere," decrees Spurgeon in Morning and Evening, "can have royal dignity if Jesus is involved."
So it is in Song of Solomon 1:7-8 that such and ordinary activity as feeding a flock of demanding animals can be a setting for courtship with the ultimate Shepherd. He places in us, His beloved, a desire to see and be close to His glory – the public demonstration of His character. Sunday is not enough. Date night is not enough. We want, like the beloved in verse seven who will eventually be a bride, to see our Man in action even in the setting which is otherwise so mundane to us.
Part of the reason that work as discipleship can be, in the vision of Song of Solomon, invigorating rather than stultifying, dispiriting, and discouraging is the Shepherd's approach to unbelief, or at least ignorance. If you don't know the fullness of My character and the extent of my specific provision, you aren't disqualified. Come along and get to me better. Taste and see that the Lord, YOUR Lord is good to you in particular.
As the inquisitive beloved of the Shepherd, we can also be encouraged by the bounty of our Shepherd's food supply in verse eight. Whatever success in our field looks like, assures Dallas Willard, Jesus knows more about it and the way to it than we do.
He knows the way to our profession's equivalent of green pastures. He knows solutions and situations so lush that as we follow in His footsteps, providing for those for whom we are responsible in the job itself or by the paycheck it provides becomes an exercise in intimacy. We feed because He feeds. He Who feeds a worldwide flock stretching throughout time will surely provide for the goats He has entrusted to us.
Song of Solomon 1:8 (The Beloved): If you do not know, O fairest among women, follow in the footsteps of the flock, and feed your little goats beside the shepherds' tents.
"Labor anywhere," decrees Spurgeon in Morning and Evening, "can have royal dignity if Jesus is involved."
So it is in Song of Solomon 1:7-8 that such and ordinary activity as feeding a flock of demanding animals can be a setting for courtship with the ultimate Shepherd. He places in us, His beloved, a desire to see and be close to His glory – the public demonstration of His character. Sunday is not enough. Date night is not enough. We want, like the beloved in verse seven who will eventually be a bride, to see our Man in action even in the setting which is otherwise so mundane to us.
Part of the reason that work as discipleship can be, in the vision of Song of Solomon, invigorating rather than stultifying, dispiriting, and discouraging is the Shepherd's approach to unbelief, or at least ignorance. If you don't know the fullness of My character and the extent of my specific provision, you aren't disqualified. Come along and get to me better. Taste and see that the Lord, YOUR Lord is good to you in particular.
As the inquisitive beloved of the Shepherd, we can also be encouraged by the bounty of our Shepherd's food supply in verse eight. Whatever success in our field looks like, assures Dallas Willard, Jesus knows more about it and the way to it than we do.
He knows the way to our profession's equivalent of green pastures. He knows solutions and situations so lush that as we follow in His footsteps, providing for those for whom we are responsible in the job itself or by the paycheck it provides becomes an exercise in intimacy. We feed because He feeds. He Who feeds a worldwide flock stretching throughout time will surely provide for the goats He has entrusted to us.
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